Inflatable pillow



Maym17, 1966 N. H. SALTNESS ETAL 3,251,075

INFLATABLE PILLOW Filed June 27, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS NORMA/VH; SALT NE 55 WILLIAM R. E SCHENBRUECHERJR ym,mmzwd ATTORNEYS yl 1966 N.H. SALTNESS ETAL 3,251,075

INFLATABLE PILLOW 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 2'7. 1962 twill/Ill 000EEO 90 000 GOG a 9 INVENTORS NORMA/V h. 541. TIVESS WILLIAM R.ESCHENBRUECHER, JR.

BYF"

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,251,075 INFLATABLE PILLOW Norman H.Saltness, Hyattsville, Md., and William R.

Eschenbruecher, Jr., Alexandria, Va., assignors to Better LivingInventions, Falls Church, Va., a company of Virginia Filed June 27,1962, Ser. No. 205,733 1 Claim. (Cl. -337) This invention relates topillows, cushions, mattresses, or articles of a similar nature whichprovide support for the body when sitting or reclining, and moreparticularly to articles of this type which are capable of providing asoft, yieldable support of relatively large thickness when desired, butwhich will require only a small fraction of space for storage.-

One object of the invention is to provide a pillow, or the like, ofgenerally rectangular shape which is capable of being expanded inthickness for use, but may be collapsed substantially flat when notneeded.

Another object of the invention is to provide an inflatable pillow, orthe like, which may be completely deflated for packing or storage, andis capable of inflation in Varying degrees in accordance with the use towhich the article is to be put. I 1 v 1 Still another object of theinvention is the provision of an inflatable, bladder means capable ofexpansion and contraction in thickness without changing its over-alldimensions in width and length.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a novel blankcapable of being fabricated into an inflatable bladder of generallyrectangular configuration, but which will retain its rectangularconfiguration-regardless of the extent of inflation.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in theart after reading the following specification in connection with theattached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one form of inflatable pillow inaccordance with the present invention and shown in expanded condition;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section'taken on the line 3-.3 of FIG. 1; I

FIG. 4 is a perspective view on a slightly enlarged scale showing thebladder means in expandedcondition;

FIGS. -5 and 6 are similar to FIGS. 2 and-3, except that the article isshown in contracted condition;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of one form of blank which may be used tofabricate the bladder means;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of another form of blank for fabricating thebladder means, and;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of one form of interior support for the bladdermeans.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, there is shown in FIG. 1, apreferred form of the completed invention comprising essentially anouter covering, indicated generally by the numeral 10, and anintermediate enclosure, or padding, indicated generally at 11; and anexpandable air bladder, indicated generally by the numeral 12.

The outer covering 10, may comprise a fabric cover composed of tworectangular pieces of material such as percale 13 and 14, sewed togetheron three sides along the seam 15 and having the fourth side joined'byclosure means such as a conventional zipper 16.

The intermediate enclosure 11 provides not only a quality of resistantsoftness characteristic of a conventional pillow, such as one filledwith down or foam rubber, but also is capable of a certain amount oflateral expansion and contraction (in accordance with the extent towhich the inner bladder 12 is inflated), but does so 3,251,075 PatentedMay 17, 1966 their margin edges and 21 as by heat-sealing or gluing toform an envelope within which the bladder means 12 is contained.

The intermediate core may be covered'by an expansible fabric covering 17and, in addition, it may be considered desirable to cover the exteriorof the bladder with similar 32, 33. A line extending between 'the'points29 and 32 lows, such as goose-down, feathers, particles of spongyDacron, or the like.

From an inspection of FIG. 4, it will be seen that the bladder 12, wheninflated, is a generally rectangular body having top and bottom panels22 and 23, respectively, side panels 24 and 25, respectively, and endpanels 26 and 27, respectively. The opposite end margins of the.

panel-25 are notched, one end being out along the line 28, 29 and 30,the other end being cut along the line 31,

32 and 33 to provide a bellows-like action. It should be noted that themarginal line between 28 and 29 is disposed at a degree angle withrespect to the margin extending between 29 and 30; similarly, the margin31, 32, is disposed at a 90 degree angle with respect tomargin will bedisposed parallel to and midway between the upper and lower parallelmargins 28, 31,.and 30, 33,

respectively. The -end panel 26 is also provided with notched endmargins indicated at one end by the line 28, 29 and 30, and at the otherend by'the line 34, 35 and 36; The line 28, 29, on end panel 26 is alsodisposed at 90 degrees with respect to the end margin 29, 30, just as itwas in the case of the side panel 25.

At the other end of panel 26, the margin between 34 and 35 is disposedat 90 degrees with respect to the margin between 35 and 36, and a linebetween points 29 and 35 is also arranged midway and parallel to theupper and lower parallel'margins 28, 34, and 30, 36, respectively. Theconfiguration of the other end panel 27 is substantially identical tothat of panel 26, just described, one

end margin of panel 27 being defined by a line between points 31, 32 and33, while the other end margin is defined by a line extending betweenpoints 37, 38 and 39;

It will thus be seen that the side and end panels 24, 25, 26 and 27provide, in effect, a form of bellows which permits the bladder toexpand and contract, and at the same time, to allow the top and bottompanels 22 and 23 to remain in substantially flat parallel relationship,

lines defined by these points. The purpose of the dia-- phragm is toprevent the side and end panels from blowing outwardly beyond the edgesof the top and bottom panels when the bladder is expanded. The diaphragmThe margins of this diaphragm are .elasticity or stretch.

itself is perforated by a large number of openings 41 to allow freepassage of air between the upper and lower sections of the bladder. Astandard valve mechanism 42 is provided in one of the end panels toallow the admission of air into the bladder.

The material of which the bladder is to be constructed is of someimportance to the success of the invention. The top, bottom, side andend panels should be con structed of some relatively thin flexible,air-impervious, sheet material, which, however, has substantially no Itshould, however, be capable of a slight amount of deformation since itis obvious that there will be a slight change in the configuration anddimensions of the side and end panels depending upon whether the pillowis deflated, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, or inflated, as shown in FIGS. 2and 3. On the other hand, if the material used had the elasticity of asheet of ordinary latex rubber, the pillow would provide no support forthe head of the user when inflated.

Materials satisfactory for the fabrication of the bladder are thoseclassed as synthetic vinyl resins, but other synthetic sheet plasticshaving similar physical characteristics would be suitable. While thediaphragm is intended primarily to confine the lateral expansion of thebellows-like side and end panels and therefore the material used in itsfabrication should have a characteristic primarily ofnon-stretchability; materials used for the construction of the remainderof the bladder have sufficient resistance to stretch to be suitable forforming the diaphra gm.

While it would be possible to fabricate the bladder by cutting out alarge number of individual pieces of sheet material and joining themtogether along the fold lines by conventional bonding methods such asdielectric heating, or by means of adhesives as is well known in thesheet plastic art, it is preferable to cut out a single blank such asthe one disclosed in FIG. 6 of the draw- This blank may comprise a mainbody portion A, defined by the fold lines 43, 44, and 46. This portionwill form either the top or bottom panel when fabricated, but it will beassumed for purposes of later illustration that it will become thebottom panel 23.

The blank in FIG. 6 also includes an upper bellows section B, a lowerbellows section C, and side bellows portions D and E. The upper bellowsportion B is defined by the fold lines 43, 44, and 47, 48, havingnotched side margins defined, respectively, by the numerals 47, 49, 43and numerals 48, and 44. The numerals 49 and 50 also defining the foldline in the mid-portion of the bellows. The lower bellows portion isdefined by the fold lines 46, 45, and 51, 52, having notched margins 46,53, 51, and 45, 54, 52., The end bellows section D is defined by thefold line 43, 46, and the parallel exterior margins 55, 56, with upperand lower notched margins defined, respectively, by numerals 55, 57, 43,and 56, 58, 46. In the completed article, this panel D becomes the endpanel 26 with the fold line 57, 58, of the blank becoming fold line 35,29, of the completed bladder.

The other end bellows section E is defined by the fold line 44, 45, andthe exterior margin, 59, 60, having upper and lower notched marginsdefined by the numerals 44, 61, 59, and 45, 62, 60, respectively. Thisbellows section becomes the end panel 27 in the completed article, thefold line 61, 62, being equivalent to the fold line 38, 32, of thecompleted article.

Extending above the bellows section B is the rectangular tab portion F,while depending below the bellows portion C is a rectangular tab portionG. The tab F is defined by the fold line 47, 48, the exterior parallelmargin 63, 64, and end margins 63, 47, and 54, 48. The depending tabportion G is defined by the fold line 51, 52, and the exterior parallelmargin 65, 66, and has end margins 51, 65, and 52, 66.

The total area of tabs Fjand G is substantially equivalent to the toppanel 22 with a slight overlap between the exterior margains of thesepanels to allow for bonding them together.

In fabricating the bladder from the blanks shown in FIG. 6, the portionsB, C, D, E, are folded inwardly about their respective fold lines 43-44,44-45, 45-46, and 46-43, and at each of the four comers the portions ofthe notched corners are joined to each other by suitable means alongtheir entire length. Thus, the marginal portion 43-49 will be joined tothe marginal portion 43-57, as by means of adhesive or in the case ofsuitable materials, by means of dielectric heating, or other appropriatemeans.

At the other corners, the margin 44-50 will be joined to margin 44-61;margin 45-62 will be joined to the margin 45-54, and margin 46-58 willbe joined to margin 4653. After this procedure, the respective bellowsportions B, C, D and B, will be folded outwardly and back along theirmedial fold lines; namely, 49-50; 53-54; 57-58, and-61-62. The diaphragm40 may then be put in place and joined along its marginal edges to theabutting sections B, C, D and E, along the fold lines just enumerated.

The remaining end marginal portions of the bellows sections are thenjoined to each other along their abutting edges. In this case, themargin 47-49 will be in abutting relationship with the margin 57.Similarly, margin 48-50 will be joined to margin 59-61; margin 60-62will be joined with margin 52-54, and margin 51-53 will be joined withthe margin 56-58.

At this point, only the flap portions F and G will remain unsealed andthey should then be folded inwardly along their respective fold lines47-48 and 51-5-2, in which position the exterior margin 5-5-56 of thebellows portion D will be in abutment with the margin 47-63 of the flapF and margin 5-1-65 of the flap G, and they should be joined with eachother along their entire abutting portions.

The exterior margin 59-60 of the bellows portion B will be in abuttingrelationship with the margin 48-64 of fiap F and the margin 52-66 of thefiap G, and these marginal portions should be joined together. Finally,the abutting margins 63-64 of flap F will be joined with the abuttingmargin 65-66 of the flap G.

These operations having been completed, a bladder similar to thatdisclosed in FIG. 4 will have been com pleted by the insertion in one ofthe end panels of the valve 42.

Another form of blank for fabricating the bladder is shown in FIG. 7,but in this instance, two such blanks must be used. In this modifiedform, the blank is octagon-ally shaped having marginal edges defined bythe numerals 67-68-69-70-71-72-73-74. A central re'ctangular area H isdefined by the fold lines 75-76-77-78, which area in the finalfabricated article will comprise either the top panel 22 or the bottompanel 23. At each side of the central area H, there are twotrapezoidally shaped areas I and K, one of which is defined by the foldline 75-78 and the margins, 78-73-74-75; the other of which is definedby the fold line 76-77, and the margins 77-70-69-76. Above and below thearea H are the trapezoidally shaped areas L and M, one of which isdefined by the fold line 75-76 and the margins 76-68-67-65; the otherbeing defined by the fold line 77-78 and the margins 78-72-7'1-77.

To complete the finished product, the portions J, K, L and M, are allturned inwardly along their respective fold lines and their abuttingmargins are joined to each other; that is to say, margin 75-75 is joinedwith the margin 67-75; margin 68-76 is joined to the margin 69-76;margin 70-77 is joined with margin 7 1-77, and margin 72-78 is joinedwith the margin 73-78.

Another similar blank is prepared in the same way,

after which they will be brought into opposing relationship with adiaphragm member 40 incorporated between them. In this position, themargin 69-70 of one of the blanks will be joined with the margin 73-74of the other blank and one side margin of the diaphragm. The margin73-74 of the first blank will be joined with the margin 67-70 of thesecond blank and the other side margin of the diaphragm. However, themargin 67-68 of one blank will be joined with the similarly enumeratedmargin of the other blank and in the margin of the diaphragm. And,finally, the margin 71-72 of both blanks will be joined together andwith the remaining margin of the diaphragm.

Furthermore, it should be understood, as has been previously stated,that the purpose of the diaphragm member 40 is to provide lateralsupport for the bellows-like action of the side and end panels of thebladder. Therefore, while the most practical manner of providing thislateral support is to fabricate the diaphragm in a single sheet, itwould also be possible to subdivide it into two or more separate piecesextending between opposite side panels.

Similarly, while it is more practical to join the diaphragm member withthe side panels along its entire marginal surface, this would not benecessary so long as the diaphragm is secured to the side and end panelsat spaced intervals suflicient to provide the necessary transversestrengthening.

Having disclosed several forms in which the invention may be practised,it will be evident to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and improvements may be made which would come within thescope of the annexed claim.

We claim:

An inflatable pillow comprising, a pair of substantially flat sectionsof yieldable padding material substantially co-extensive in area, meansto confine a body of air between said sections to position them invertically spaced substantially parallel relation, said air-confiningmeans including bellows-like vertically expandable bladder meanscomposed of air-impervious flexible substantially nou-' References Citedby the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,748,399 6/1956 Rookofi 53482,751,953 6/1956 Grimm 5-348 X 2,814,053 11/1957 Sevcik 5-348 2,990,0706/ 1961 Cushman 5-3 48 X 3,016,938 1/1962 Akrep l505 FRANK B. SHERRY,Primary Examiner.

A. M. CALVERT, Assistant Examiner.

